Some Things Are Consistent In Panama
May 10th, 2007 by Don Ray
One of the most consistent things in Panama is that if you see something that you want in a store, you should buy it. If you don’t and go back the next day it will most likely not be there anymore.
That is exactly what happened to me with the Olympus camera that I decided to buy. I saw it in Panama City a couple of weeks ago and didn’t buy it the day I saw it. The only reason I didn’t buy it then was that I typically don’t buy anything without researching it on the Internet to make sure it is what I really want.
I spent about three days after I returned from Panama City and after an enormous amount of time on the Net, I was ready to buy. However upon contacting PanaFoto, I find that they had sold all they had and had no idea when or if they would have any more.
I don’t know how many times I have had a similar thing happen. One time I was going to purchase a television for the children’s cancer ward of the Obaldia Hospital. I had found a good buy at PriceSmart and PriceSmart has about 20 sitting on the floor. I came home that night and contacted the person that was going to have the television installed for me to make sure the size was what they wanted. The size was confirmed and when I went to PriceSmart the next day all 20 TVs were gone.
Panama is better for an impulse buyer. Here the saying “You snooze – you loose” is a watchword.
You are now officially an old timer. It takes a few years and a few unpleasant experiences to realize just how fickle and unresponsive to customers Panama merchants can be. A lot of this has to do with the business model of buying closeouts, obsolete models, and (groceries in particular) things that are very near their expiration date, or not adjusting stocks to reflect demand.
If you see it and want or need it, buy it! Years ago an AAFES employee explained the reason for stock shortages when she told me “We’re out of those. They’re just too hard to keep in stock.”
Riba Smith is presently experiencing another shortage of sliced Swiss Cheese, but have tons of shredded Swiss. Does anyone in purchasing have a brain, or is sliced Swiss just ‘too hard to keep in stock’?
Hi Henry. I learned this a long time ago. It is just that I daily forget what I learned the day before. In the case of the camera, I would have never bought it without studying up on it, so I guess that one was doomed to fail from the start.
Quick question, Don. Cameras etc. are readily available over the web at discount prices with routine overseas shipping. It is an issue to mail order something from Panama?
No, there is no problem other than you will pay about 20% duty, +5% taxes when it goes through customs in Panama and then some shipping and handling. By the time you pay all the charges, it costs more than if you bought it new here. My plan now is to pick one up in the US on my next trip.
Many thanks, Don. That’s good to know. It’s not as bad a Venezuela. One of our employees was down there on a job one time and the power brick for her Dell laptop went kaput. At the time:
Cost of a new power brick: $80
Cost to ship to Venezuela (quick!): $80
Cost to bribe customs to allow her to have it (quick!): $80
Most expensive power brick we ever bought!
Different items have different duty charges. If it is less than $50 there will be no charge. Books basically have no charge other than the tax which everything over $50 gets.
As you are doubtless aware and have probably discussed elsewhere, free trade between the U.S. and Panama is in the works. See: http://www.ustr.gov/Trade_Agreements/Bilateral/Panama_FTA/Reports/Section_Index.html
http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2006&m=December&x=20061220153509SAikceinawz0.2609674
(We’ll see how the blog site handles these long links.)
Yes I was aware.
dear don ray,
so you have loved and lost, so speak! ellen
I guess so. However, I may be back in the game. I found the camera on Ebay and am going to try to get it shipped to my daughters so I can pick it up when I visit her in Texas, which won’t be too long.
Sorry to hear that…
Before we moved down here, we had considered some of the island countries in the Eastern Caribbean and I told Debbie that I thought we were still moving into an “island economy” since despite the fact that we are on teh mainland; supplies of many things are erratic or even non-repeatable.
We’ve learned that, within reason, you have to buy it when you see it because you’ll never be sure you’ll see it again.
FWIW, I’ve mail-ordered two cameras since we moved here and was only charged token duty on both.
Go figure…..
I have a hunch on this camera it would be more than token with my luck. Looks like I have one I found on Ebay and I am having it sent to my daughter’s house and will pick it up when I visit.
Don Ray,
This is simply the Costco (and Pricesmart) rule of law:
If you see it, and you like it, you better buy it now rather than later - people know a good deal when they see one. Been there.
That is true in Panama. I remember in the US that most things would be restocked, but not here. I used to like some chicken breasts that never came back.
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